(The Center Square) – Wyoming continues to have some of the lowest electricity prices in the country, according to a new report. 

Wyoming's 8.27 cents per kilowatt hour average ranks number 4, the Energy Affordability Report from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) said. Only Louisiana, Iowa, and Oklahoma had lower average rates.  

In addition to looking at state electricity prices, ALEC researchers compared states based on three common energy policies: renewable portfolio standard (RPS), a cap-and-trade system, and state-mandated net metering. 

“They’re paying 8.27 cents per kilowatt hour in Wyoming,” said Joe Trotter, ALEC’s energy, environment, and agriculture task force director. “There is no cap and trade there and they have no renewable portfolio standard (RPS), which basically means the government is not saying ‘oh, we must have certain technologies,’ it’s just ‘the market is doing its job.’”

Trotter said Wyoming does have state-mandated rules for certain utilities in terms of net metering, but it just “does not seem to be a particularly onerous set of regulations.”

Net metering has to do with essentially selling energy from things such as solar panels back to the electric grid.

“The Energy Affordability Report is a great tool in order to talk to lawmakers and for lawmakers to talk amongst themselves about what works and what doesn’t,” Trotter said. “It also serves as a warning for states that are already doing very well to look at states that have policies that significantly increase the burden on their constituents.”